NTC 'captured' Sabha as loyalists flee to Niger

TRIPOLI / BRUSSELS - Hürriyet Daily News | 9/22/2011 12:00:00 AM |

Several key supporters of fugitive Moammar Gadhafi have fled to Niger from the southern desert city of Sabha, freshly captured by new regime forces while supporters in Sirte have been executing residents suspected of sympathising with Libya’s new rulers, forces backing the country’s interim government and fleeing residents said.

Several key supporters of fugitive Moammar Gadhafi have fled to Niger from the southern desert city of Sabha, freshly captured by new regime forces while supporters in Sirte have been executing residents suspected of sympathising with Libya’s new rulers, forces backing the country’s interim government and fleeing residents said. “The situation isn’t great,” said one resident who did not give his name as he left the city, where he said Gadhafi’s forces were moving “like gangs” through the streets. “There have been executions,” he said, naming two men who he said had been executed on Thursday. The general commanding NATO’s mission, Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, in Libya meanwhile said that isolated groups of forces loyal to Gadhafi continue to be a threat to local people but are unable to coordinate their actions.